Hell and Back
by CelestiaLily
Summary: After the events of "The End," the Titans are enjoying some free time. But what happens when BB finds a friendship quote that seems just too ironic? Hint of BBRae. Enjoy!


**Disclaimer: I do not own _Teen Titans_ or this quote.**

A/N: The term "hell" is utilized frequently in this story. Not for swearing or profanities, but for its more direct meaning of an evil underworld or a really bad situation.

Pairings: This is more of a team friendship fic, but the pairings are generally canon with some slight BBRae. Enjoy!

"_Alright! 4-eyes is history, his goulies are gone, and we just saved the whole, dang universe!Now who wants french toast?"_

How _does _one celebrate after the "end of the world?" Well, the Titans had just finished their weird but delicious french toast "dinner," and now were _really_ enjoying some well-deserved quality free time.

Starfire was helping Robin clean up the kitchen from Cyborg's and Beast Boy's "Breakfast Explosion 2.0," and occasionally making him smile with her humorous impressions of various Tamarainian wildlife.

Cyborg was busy rebooting the Tower's security system and restoring the main power generator. They had been using electricity from the backup generator, but most of its power had already been drained from Cyborg's massive attack on those fire-demons. He needed to get the systems online before their small supply of power gave out too.

Raven quietly read on the couch. After everything that had happened in those few short days, she needed something familiar to bring her back to Earth. Old habits die hard, she guessed.

Beast Boy lacked a partner to challenge him in the video games, so he sat in the main room with his 3 other teammates and opened up his laptop.

It was something that everyone silently agreed; it was good to be home.

Beast Boy logged into the Titan's West shared email account and scrolled around for any new messages. Cyborg had installed extra-secure firewalls against the hoards of fan mail that the group was regularly swamped with. It was a humungous relief not having to deal with the masses of letters they received, this way Robin didn't have to see all of the marriage proposals Starfire was sent. He had almost blown a blood vessel the last time one of those showed up...

Anyways, there was nothing of interest except a message from Titans East. Beast Boy clicked on it and found a long (and slightly annoying) friendship chain email. It had some friendship quotes accompanied by lots of cute pictures. It was sweet and all, but BB made a mental note to tell Titans East not to send useless stuff like this.

But the last quote at the bottom of the message caught his interest.

"Best friends will go to hell and back for you."

It was a moment before he comprehended the complete _irony_ of the statement.

Beast Boy burst out laughing, clutching his gut and almost falling off his chair in his exhausted state. Never did he find it so _funny_ that he and his teammates had risked every life and limb to defeat Trigon, and now their entire situation had been summed up in a _friendship quote!_

Robin and Starfire gave him funny looks, but it was Raven that snapped her book shut and strode over to see what was so hilarious.

BB just barely managed to point at the sentence before finally falling off his chair. Raven read the words, understanding the meaning with utter astonishment.

_Best friends will go to hell and back for you._

The corners of her mouth twitched. _Hell and back..._

Beast Boy was still laughing too hard on the floor to notice the strange faces Raven was pulling. She was trying desperately not to grin, and failing epically.

Her self restraint finally collapsed, and Raven let out a loud snort that followed with a fit of uncontrollable giggling. Her knocking legs gave way and Raven found herself clutching the chair for support.

It felt so _good_ to laugh, like she's been holding it in and suddenly she could let it out without wreaking havoc on the whole Tower. Beast Boy lay next to her, feeling blissfully carefree for the first time in a long time.

Starfire had never seen such a strange occurrence before. Raven and Beast Boy's laughter was spontaneous, eccentric and ringing throughout the room.

She turned to see Robin in shock, pulling an odd face at the unusual sight. Cyborg emerged from the hallway waving a monkey wrench around and asked indignantly,

"Yo, _what's so funny?_ I could hear the giggling from all the way in the basement with my _power tools_ on!

"...Uh..."

For he had noticed his teammates rolling on the floor, struggling for breath and apparently some email from Titans East on BB's laptop.

Robin put a finger to his lips and the 3 teens approached the screen.

It was silent for a while as the simple yet ironic meaning of the quote dawned on them.

Starfire met Robin's masked eyes and stated, "You know, we _have, _metaphorically speaking, been through hell and back..."

Cyborg snickered and bent down to help Raven stand up. Beast Boy wiped tears of mirth from his eyes and stood around his friends in a circle.

Every one of the Titans giggled together for a moment, drinking in the fact that they _had_ gone through hell, and _survived._ Never have they struggled through so much, and now they knew with absolute certainty that they would entrust their lives to everyone in this circle.

In a low but cheerful voice, Cyborg looked Raven in her shining violet eyes and said,

"Well Raven, looks like you've got some pretty great friends."

She nodded briefly, cementing in her mind the extent of her friend's loyalty. They accepted her for who and what she is, and that was more than what she could have ever wanted.

Robin put his arm around Starfire's shoulder and announced, "Well team, we should probably get some sleep."

They all agreed, and the 5 teens broke up to retire in their separate rooms.

Cyborg opened his door, and looked back to see one pale gray hand intertwined in a white-gloved hand. The owners of their linked hands rounded the corner and disappeared, leaving Cyborg to shake his head, grin and quietly close the door.

Raven's head flopped on her pillow, she closed her eyes and her last thought before her mind surrendered to dreamless slumber was,

"_...I do have some pretty great friends, don't I?..."_

_End_


End file.
